


closest to the heart

by yabakuboi



Category: Naruto
Genre: Crossover, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Mushishi AU, Mushishi!Kakashi, Non-Explicit Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:35:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23363302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yabakuboi/pseuds/yabakuboi
Summary: Leaning in the last few inches, Kakashi catches Iruka in a kiss, sealing their lips together with a pleased hum, happily breathing him in when Iruka gasps into it. This is familiar, the joy that curls up in Kakashi’s chest like a well fed house-cat as he tilts his head just so, exchanging slow, inviting kisses. Iruka’s fingers brush Kakashi’s jaw, cold and electrifying, and Kakashi kisses him a little deeper, tasting the smile on Iruka’s lips.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka
Comments: 4
Kudos: 88





	closest to the heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MagnusTesla](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagnusTesla/gifts).



> For the lovely MagnusTesla, who was so kind to commission me! I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> You don't have to know Mushishi to understand this, though there are quite a few references, but I HIGHLY recommend the show!! It's very soothing, a little chilling, with fantastic storytelling and art. Otherwise though, this is just some very fluffy kakairu that I'm so glad I got a to write!

It’s raining.

It’s always raining near the coast here, quick storms that blow in from the sea and surrounding the mountaintops for a few hours before the sun breaks and the land is left quenched. The valley by the ocean is lush with greenery, glad to weather the wind for the chance of fresh life. The _kounonagare_ flows close to the surface here, and with it comes the _midorimono_.

Kakashi chews absently on the end of the tobacco stick, his breath a string of smoke in the air, his coat draped over his head and luggage to provide a little more shelter the gingko tree does not. He can feel it growing at its back, its drenched leaves happily catching the rain.

The mountaintop is aglow with _mushi_ , undulating and lighting up in the fog, dancing amongst the raindrops. He watches as they move, cataloging each type and wishing that his paper could withstand the wet, his damp fingers itching to draw as he observes. 

He watches so intently that he’s almost startled when a shape manifests along the mountain path, slowly making its way towards him. It takes form into a man under a wide umbrella, stepping carefully through the fog and moving steadily. As he gets closer, he looks up from under the dripping brim and smiles.

For a moment, Kakashi can’t breathe.

“I thought you might be here,” Iruka says by way of greeting. “You always bring the rains with you.”

“Ah, is that the reason?” Kakashi smirks, quickly ducking under Iruka’s umbrella when he lifts it in invitation. “I thought it was the spring and the _mushi_ that made it so wet here.” Iruka hands over the umbrella pole, freeing his hands to reach up and smooth away the damp hair from Kakashi’s face. Kakashi swats at him, scowling. “Don’t mother me like your wayward duckling,” he huffs despite the way his skin tingles everywhere Iruka touches.

Iruka smacks his hand away, his smile turning down into a scowl. 

“I’ll do as I please, thank you very much,” Iruka snaps, and Kakashi submits himself to Iruka’s touch, his lips twitching up into a traitorous smile as Iruka busies himself brushing back Kakashi’s flyaway hair to get a good look at his face. “Don’t pout, you’re an adult.”

“Then you should treat me like one,” Kakashi says, absolutely not pouting.

“I will when you start acting like one,” Iruka snips back just as easy. His fingers linger just under Kakashi’s left eye. “I see you’ve gone and lost another prosthetic.”

Kakashi turns his face away and brushes his hair back over the empty socket. “I didn’t lose it, per se…”

“I see,” Iruka says with a knowing look. “Well, I think we’ve stood out in the rain quite long enough.” 

He presses himself into Kakashi’s side and hooks their arms together as he begins to lead Kakashi back the way he came, the rain a steady beat to their steps. Kakashi lowers the umbrella over the both of them and lets Iruka guide him down the mountain.

The silence between them is comfortable, and Kakashi takes the time to look at his companion, cataloging the changes the same as he would a new species of _mushi_ : Iruka’s hair is two inches longer than the last time he visited, he has a faint sunburn and a faint scattering of new freckles on his nose, and the yukata he wears is new, likely replacing the well patched one he used to wear before. The fabric is a deep, warm green, soft against Kakashi where their arms are linked together. It looks good on Iruka’s golden brown skin.

“You look well,” Kakashi says softly, leaning a little closer into Iruka’s space.

Iruka doesn’t even look at him, but Kakashi still catches the small smile near the corner of Iruka’s lips. “And you look like you haven’t eaten in several days.”

Pouting again, Kakashi averts his gaze again, quickly taking to watching the forest around them as they slowly make their way towards the village, a few hours’ trip in dry weather that's stretched longer by the softened dirt and bulging rivers that they carefully pick their way around, unhurried, their arms linked together between them.

It’s midday by the time they reach the mountain shrine, and the rain has begun to pound harder against the thatched umbrella. 

“Shall we rest a bit?” Iruka says, already leading him down the slick stone stairs towards the shrine’s roof.

Kakashi follows along unprotesting and gratefully ducks below the awning, propping the umbrella up against the torii gates before he pulls the _mushishi_ box off his back. He waits until Iruka has clapped his hands and bowed his head, sending a quick prayer of thanks, before they sit on the dry step before the shrine, pressed close, side-by-side, their knees brushing.

Hesitating only for a moment, Kakashi lets his arm rest around Iruka’s back, bracing them together, Iruka’s warmth seeping through the thin fabric of Kakashi shirt.

Iruka smiles at him from the corner of his eye and says nothing. 

For a while, they sit in silence, listening to the rain on the ceramic tiles of the roof, and the quiet life of the trees. Around them, the _mushi_ are still dancing, glowing like fireflies in the grey rain.

“This is a healthy place,” Kakashi remarks, watching the _mugura_ at their feet waving freely in the cracks of the stone.

“So you say every time,” Iruka says, bumping their shoulders together. He pulls a bento into his lap and offers Kakashi a haphazardly shaped onigiri. 

Kakashi takes it with a teasing smirk. “I see your cooking skills haven’t improved.”

Predictably, Iruka turns red and glares at him. “I’ll have you know Naruto made them.” He doesn’t take it when Kakashi immediately tries to hand it back. “Oh hush, he just shaped them, they’re perfectly fine.”

It’s been so long since Kakashi has last shared a meal with Iruka, maybe a year or even more. And even if it’s just a small meal of cool rice and plum, Kakashi is thankful for it, glad to be able to watch as Iruka eats quickly, like he always has since he was a child and unsure when his next meal would come to him. And still Iruka pushes a second and then a third helping onto Kakashi, impatiently waiting for him to eat it until he’s satisfied.

“I’m not actually starving, you know,” Kakashi says, just to irritate him.

Iruka huffs. “Well you look like a strong wind will take you right off the mountain.”

“Hmmm, I suppose you’re right.” 

“Glad you agree,” Iruka says, rolling his eyes. He leans just slightly more into Kakashi’s side, a pleasant, warm weight. “Are you…” he starts, fidgeting. “How long will you be around?”

Kakashi hums, tilts his head towards Iruka like he’s thinking about it. “A while I suppose.”

“Will you be staying nearby?”

“Maa, is that an invitation, sensei?” Kakashi asks, teasing and wistful at the same time. He ducks his head closer, trying to catch a glimpse of the blush on Iruka’s cheeks when he turns away.

“It…” Iruka starts and sighs. He straightens his shoulder and meets Kakashi’s gaze. He's beautiful. “It is.”

Leaning in the last few inches, Kakashi catches Iruka in a kiss, sealing their lips together with a pleased hum, happily breathing him in when Iruka gasps into it. This is familiar, the joy that curls up in Kakashi’s chest like a well fed house-cat as he tilts his head just so, exchanging slow, inviting kisses. Iruka’s fingers brush Kakashi’s jaw, cold and electrifying, and Kakashi kisses him a little deeper, tasting the smile on Iruka’s lips. 

He only pulls away a bare inch to breathe, resting his forehead to Iruka’s. His arms have somehow found a way around Iruka’s waist, holding him close, relishing the feel of Iruka’s hands cupping his face.

“You don’t have to ask every time,” he murmurs. The pounding of the rain almost drowns out his words.

“Just in case,” Iruka says, ever pragmatic, and Kakashi kisses him again.

“The answer’s always yes,” he says and Iruka smiles.

They sit together for a time, curled up and waiting as the rain softens its fall, until they can pick up their things once again and make their way home. It’s near pitch dark when they make it to the seaside village, the surf loud in the darkness, but the village dotted with glowing windows.

“Where’s Naruto?” Kakashi asks as they step into Iruka’s darkened home, the fire in the hearth only cooling embers.

“Knowing him, he’ll be on the shore,” Iruka says casually as he flicks water from his hair. “Stay there, I’ll bring you a towel.”

Kakashi watches him carefully as he goes. “Are you concerned?” he calls, pulling off his boots and setting them in line with Iruka’s sandals before unloading the box on the raised floor with care, its innards clinking together. 

“No,” Iruka says as he returns in a fresh yukata, the old, patched blue one. Kakashi catches the sleeve of it, feeling the familiar aged softness as Iruka throws a thin cotton towel over his head and gives him a thorough drying. “He’s adamant that he’s just visiting.”

“And is he being visited in return?” 

Iruka steps back and chuckles as Kakshi’s hair flips up, defying gravity. Kakashi pulls him a little closer, ducking his head so Iruka can rake his fingers through his hair to tame it.

“He asked me not to worry,” Iruka admits.

“Then don’t,” Kakashi says just as easily, pressing a warm kiss just behind Iruka’s ear. He can remember Naruto as a child, his hair green and his body transparent from living so many years in the _suiko_ until it had taken him to sea to die. It had been Iruka that’d fished him from the ocean when Kakashi had been unable to save him, and it had been Iruka that had sat with the boy until he’d awoken again with golden hair and blue eyes. “I’ll check with him.”

“Thank you,” Iruka murmurs. He tugs Kakashi a little closer by his belt, until they’re chest to chest and Iruka has to tilt his head back to meet Kakashi’s eye. “Come to bed?”

And Kakashi hasn’t felt so warm in all his life, as he feels here in Iruka’s home, in Iruka’s arms. “I would have thought you’d want to see the presents I brought for your collection, sensei,” Kakashi murmurs, wrapping Iruka in his arms and pressing a biting kiss to his jaw.

“ _Mushi_ nonsense tomorrow,” Iruka says, turning his head to catch Kakashi’s lips. “Bed now.”

Unable to resist, Kakashi scoops Iruka up, his yukata slipping open as his legs wrap around Kakashi’s hips, his skin against wet clothes and he moans right into Kakashi’s ear. Kakashi stumbles past the hearth and into the adjacent room until his toes touch the edge of the futon and Kakashi goes to his knees, laying Iruka across it and pulling open his yukata the rest of the way until he is bare beneath him, all warm flesh and beautiful.

“I missed you,” Kakashi breathes when Iruka’s hands slip past the hem of his shirt, pushing it up over his belly and chest. He sits up only long enough to pull the damp fabric over his head before Iruka pulls him back down.

“Missed you too.” Iruka kisses him, arches his back when Kakashi takes him in hand with a gentle, firm grasp. “Kakashi.”

They go slow, mapping each other like unexplored lands, feeling all the new scars and muscles and touches between them, and revisiting the well known parts again. Iruka still gasps when Kakashi bites at his collar, and Kakashi still groans when Iruka thumbs at his nipples. They touch and taste and drink their fill of each other, and Kakashi could live here forever in this moment, between Iruka’s thighs or beneath Iruka’s body or thrusting deep into him, clinging to each other, kissing with teeth and tongue and breath.

In the morning, he’ll gift Iruka with a green sake cup and an empty shell, a book written by a cursed hand, any number of things that Iruka can add to his collection that grows in his shed. And Iruka will wonder how long Kakashi will stay this time before the road calls him away again.

But for tonight, after he’s cleaned the mess on Iruka’s belly and thighs, Kakashi lets himself just rest, laid out across Iruka’s side. Iruka hums, pleased, when Kakashi throws a leg over his and rests his head on Iruka’s shoulder. They curl tightly together, and Kakashi’s feet poke out from under the covers.

“You need a bigger futon, sensei.”

Iruka laughs. “I actually have one, but I wasn’t sure if you’d be here tonight.”

“Too big to sleep in without me?”

“Yes,” Iruka murmurs, his fingers gently running through Kakashi’s hair. Kakashi tries and fails to not feel pleased about it, and hides his smile against Iruka’s neck. Iruka shakes with a gentle, breathy laugh despite himself. “Welcome home, Kakashi.”

Kakashi’s smile only grows. “I’m home, Iruka.”

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [Tumblr](https://yabakuboi.tumblr.com/) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/yabakuboi)! (ﾉ^ヮ^)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧


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